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Venue Spotlight/NOTO

Yes, those two words are two glorious words that the whole entire City of Brotherly Love has been waiting to say ever since it was announced last August that the grounds that were once home to Wakisha Charter School (1209 Vine Street) would be transformed to build an out-of-this-world Phillynight club experience called NOTO, aka…Nothing Of The Ordinary.

And guess what? We can finally say hello like Adele to it all.

Tonight, the newly minted local hot spot will continue with its grand preview weekend, which will lead into its official grand opening next Friday, March 3rd. However, that shouldn’t stop anybody from heading over tonight to experience this soon to be pulsating piece of Philly night life history, which comes complete with exquisite service to get those bottles poppin and flowin, lots of space for the VIPS, two seperate floors for your migration and of course, lots and lots ofroom for dancing….15, 000 square feet of it, to be exact.

And what’s that hanging above you? It’s just a big ol’ disco ball that’s guaranteed to provide just the right amount of shimmer for those iconic dance moves of yours.

Speaking of dancing, it’s the one thing we should all be doing more of right now, and since the crew at NOTO knows this is and then some, they’re pulling out of all the stops in making sure the hottest DJs and entertainment slide through the place. This weekend and beyond are no exception as Dallas K, Jesse Marco, Vicetone and Kayper will be breaking in the foundation over the next weeks.

Back in August when the NOTO news first broke, Philadelphia Magazine introduced us to twenty-four old James DeBerardine and his mother, Micheline, who revealed their plan to bring their “Las Vegas-Amsterdam-Ibiza” circuit style night club to the city. Of course, many Philly residents grumbled (that they did…read this) and said NOTO would never happen, mostly because the DeBerardine’s had little to no real night club experience, with Micheline having a touch as a real-estate lawyer and James referencing his dance-music connections for credibility…plus, he’s like really, really young.

But lucky for all of us, they knew that you just can’t get shit done these days without the proper team, so they called in the best of the business including director Ryan Dorsey, director of hospitality and marketing, Zach Seidman, director of operations, Jeff Bowell and operations manager, Steve Sauls.

Together, these four gentlemen hold a combined 53 years of experience working in nightclubs all the way from Atlantic City to Vegas, including Philly’s Recess Lounge, A.C.’s HQ Night Club and HQ Beach Club, as well as residing hot spot, The Fillmore, in which Seidman was their former nightlife director.

So, in case anyone is still a bit iffy on all that NOTO has to offer for us and the city of Philadelphia, unless you throw shade to a good time, those doubts should absolutely fade away. “We want our people in Philadelphia to not leave Philadelphia to get what they deserve. We want them to get an Uber or just walk to NOTO,” Seidman spilled to Philly Mag. “We don’t want Philadelphians to get in a car and drive for miles to go to Atlantic City or New York because our city is just as cool.” And there you have it….all.

However, if you’re still not convinced that you should dive right into the fiery NOTO pool, Philly Chit Chat superstar Hugh E. Dillon was on the opening preview scene (check out his full spread right here), and spilled to Philly Mixtape about his experience:”I think the club is amazing and Philly was the right place for them to choose ’cause we are hot and everyone here wants to be a part of it.”

And there you really have it. So, now there’s truly one thing left to do….go.